


Once Upon a Dream

by Jewelgirl04



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Romance, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 08:44:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1339219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jewelgirl04/pseuds/Jewelgirl04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But if I know you, I know what you'll do,<br/>You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Once Upon a Dream" as performed and recorded by Lana Del Ray

**_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream._ **

 

The blood was still pounding in Jim Kirk’s head, his face the picture of a brawl that had fallen far out of his favor, when Commander Gibbs’ voice boomed through the shuttle. For a rather unassuming looking woman, the commander packed a big bark and an even worse bite. “You need a doctor!”

Her hand was wrapped around the arm of a much taller man, clad in a tan jacket and jeans. He was scruffy and disheveled, hair mussed in every direction. “I don’t _need_ a doctor!” he protested as they drew nearer, allowing Jim to take note of his strong jaw and hazel eyes. “Dammit, I _am_ a doctor!”

Gibbs’ patience was quickly running thin. “You need to get back to your seat. Now!”

They came to a halt in front of her section. “I had one in the bathroom. With no windows,” he retorted impatiently and Jim made no attempt to hide his own amusement. “I suffer from Aviophobia. That means the fear of dying in something that flies.” The doctor gestured to his surroundings to illustrate his point.

Gibbs was not amused by his condescension. “Sir, for your own safety, sit down. Or else I’ll _make_ you sit down.”

The doctor looked as though he were about to protest again, but stopped himself and acquiesced to the commander’s demand. “Fine.” He waved her off, sinking into the seat next to the man in the leather jacket. As Gibbs headed for the cockpit, his eyes settled on his male neighbor. “I may throw up on you.”

“I think these things are pretty safe,” he answered somewhat unconvinced, as though he were trying to reassure himself now too.

“Don’t pander to me, kid,” the doctor returned with a grimace, a distinct southern accent flaring inevitably along with his blood pressure. “One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. A solar flare might crop up and cook us in our seats. And you wait ‘til you’re sittin’ pretty with a case of Andorian shingles!” he scoffed, continuing to rattle off the dangers of spaceflight. “See if you’re so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding! Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence!”

“I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space.” The poor cadet continued, trying to ease the other man’s nerves, but to no avail.

The doctor slumped in defeat. “Yeah, well, I’ve got nowhere else to go.” He extracted a flask from his jacket and unscrewed the top. “The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I’ve got left are my bones.” He took a long swig from the container and swallowed harshly, offering it to the younger man.

“Jim Kirk,” the man on the right introduced himself, raising the flask before taking a sip.

“McCoy. Leonard McCoy,” the other man replied, taking back the container from Jim. His fingers barely brushed against Jim’s as he held his cerulean stare. “Have we met before?”

Jim snorted. “I think I’d remember if I met you, Bones.”

“Don’t call me Bones, kid,” Leonard grumbled, screwing the cap back into place.

Kirk flashed the man his trademark grin that caused the skin around his eyes to crinkle ever-so-slightly. “Whatever you say, Bones.”

 

**_I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam._ **

 

_These days, Jim Kirk could barely sleep. And when he did, his subconscious mind was filled with images of lightning, of barriers not meant to be pushed through or broken, of Leo Kelso’s lifeless body, and Gary Mitchell disappearing beneath a pile of rocks._

_He had been Captain of the Enterprise for only a few months and he’d already failed his crew, failed Starfleet. The death toll for his poor judgment was in double digits that he couldn’t bear to actually count or he might have fallen apart altogether._

_After losing many of the senior officers on the ship, Starfleet insisted Kirk shuffle its command crew on board. So he’d tried his best to promote from within. Captain Pike’s legacy science officer, Lieutenant Commander Spock, was elevated to First Officer. Montgomery Scott remained as chief engineer. Uhura was bumped up to communications officer, Sulu transferred to the helm._

_But that still left the matter of the Chief Medical Officer after Dr. Mark Piper had resigned his posted following the Mitchell incident, not that Kirk could blame him. The thought had crossed his own mind more than a few times._

_His new CMO had come highly recommended, a former country doctor-turned-Starfleet surgeon. His credentials from the University of Mississippi and Starfleet Academy were outstanding, he’d even developed a new surgical procedure for the humanoid brain involving the graft of neural tissue._

_“Leonard McCoy,” the man drawled upon meeting the Captain._

_“Jim Kirk,” Jim replied with a firm handshake, holding his stare. “The accent… Mississippi?”_

_“Georgia.”_

_“Ahh.” Kirk relinquished his hand with a nod. “I’m finishing a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Did you know that General Sherman sent Lincoln a telegram announcing the surrender of Savannah as a Christmas present during the Civil War?”_

_McCoy shook his head. “My reading mostly consists of medical research from the last century, Captain. I’m afraid if I read too much about the Civil War, I might get tempted to break out the ol’ sawbones.”_

_A grin eased its way across Jim’s face. “Welcome aboard, Dr. McCoy.”_

 

**_And I know it’s true that visions are seldom what they seem._ **

 

_“Thank you. Stand by, Mr. Spock. Kirk out,” Jim spoke into the air._

_“This whole thing’s incredible,” Leonard declared in awe of the machine._

_“We don’t know. An alien race, apparently from another galaxy.”_

_McCoy was perplexed. “But why?”_

_“Bones,” Kirk turned his attention to the doctor beside him. “You ever hear of a doomsday machine?”_

_The CMO fought the urge to roll his eyes. Just barely. “No, I’m a doctor, not a mechanic.”_

 

**_But if I know you, I know what you’ll do._ **

 

“Damn it, man,” Leonard groused, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m a doctor, not a mechanic! I’ve told you that before.”

Kirk furrowed his eyebrows together, shaking his head incredulously. “No, you haven’t.”

“Yes, Jim,” the doctor returned pointedly. “I _have_.”

“ _When_?”

“I-“ Bones opened his mouth further to tear into Jim, ready to spout off the memory in great detail. But the strange thing was, when he delved into the recesses of his mind, it wasn’t there. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m sorry,” Kirk cocked his head to the side, blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “What was that, Dr. McCoy?”

“You heard me, you infant.”

 

**_You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream._ **

 

_They sat in the darkness of the Captain’s quarters for what seemed like hours, perched on the edge of the bed. They’d just watched a young woman die after being struck by a car, made the choice not to save her to save millions of others in the future. Yet, in the moment, it didn’t feel as though crisis had been averted._

_Jim piped up suddenly. “I didn’t go after you just to prevent you from changing history, Bones…”_

_Even without light in the room, Leonard McCoy could tell there was sadness in Jim Kirk’s eyes. “I know, Jim.” He reached for his friend’s hand, curling his fingers around the slightly cold ones beneath them. “I know.”_

 

**_But if I know you, I know what you’ll do._ **

 

“What I said a few weeks ago, after I woke up…”

Bones shook his head at Jim, draping an arm over his torso as the starlight filtered into the bedroom of their San Francisco apartment. “If Spock didn’t capture Khan, I wouldn’t have been able to-“

This time, it was Kirk’s turn to interrupt. “Let me finish.” He reached up to brush his thumb over Leonard’s jawline. “Maybe, this time... he was an integral part. But Bones…” He slowly raised his shoulders then dropped them again. “You saved my life a long time ago. You gave me something, _someone_ to live for _,_ when I thought I was just a stupid kid chasing his father’s ghost.”

“And you saved me when I was a broken man running from the ghost of mine.”

 

**_You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream._ **

 

_“Starfleet, this is Captain Kirk. Beam that officer up now!” Kirk ordered as the doctor began to materialize. “Well, for a man who swore he’d never return to Starfleet…”_

_“Just a moment, captain, sir,” McCoy interred with a cock of his eyebrows. “I’ll explain what happened. Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little known, seldom used reserve activation clause! In simpler language, captain, they drafted me!”_

_“They didn’t!” Jim returned with mock-surprise._

_“This was your idea!” Bones shouted at him accusingly. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”_

_“Bones, there’s a thing out there…”_

_“Why is any object we don’t understand always called a thing?”_

_But the captain continued to speak over Leonard. “… Headed this way. I need you. Dammit, Bones… I need you. Badly.”_

_McCoy held his gaze for a moment, azure eyes reflecting into sapphire. “Permission to come aboard?”_

 

**_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream._ **

**_I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam._ **

 

_The snap of the support beams cut through the air, a mixture of steel and man tumbling to the surface of the planet._

_Captain Picard pried at the crumpled metal, picking off a few small scraps, but upon laying eyes on the aged Admiral, blood dribbling down his lips and chin, he knew that his efforts would be for nothing._

_“Did we do it?” the man rasped out. “Did we make a difference?”_

_“Oh, yes.” Picard’s face softened slightly, cracking the hardened veneer of his features. “We made a difference. Thank you.”_

_The Admiral tipped his head slightly. “It’s the least I could do… for the Captain of the Enterprise,” he managed between breaths. “It was…” Another shallow breath. “Fun.” His chin rolled slightly to the side, light rapidly fading from his blue irises. “… Oh my.”_

_The Captain let out a puff of air he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in._

_Admiral James T. Kirk was gone._

 

**_And I know it’s true that visions are seldom what they seem._ **

 

Leonard shot up in bed, a thin sheen of sweat coating his body, breathing as though he’d just run a mile. And maybe, in his mind, he had.

“Bones?” Jim turned over, placing a tender hand on the doctor’s thigh. “You okay?”

McCoy took a steadying breath, looking down to the source of the voice. “Yeah.” After another deep exhale, the corner of his mouth tugged ever-so-slightly. “Yeah, go back to sleep Jim.”

“M’kay,” the man mumbled sleepily, burrowing his head back into the pillow.

 

**_But if I know you, I know what you’ll do._ **

 

Twenty minutes later, Bones settled back into the bed, wrapping an arm around Jim’s torso and pressing him against his chest. “Hey, Jim?”

“Yeah, Bones?”

“You know I’d follow you over any cliff, right?”

“Mhmm.”

“Good.” He nodded. “That’s good.” Bones stared at the back of his head for another few moments. “Just do me a favor, kid… stay away from bridges, alright?”

Jim let out a breath as he tangled their legs together and lowered his hands to cover Leonard’s. “Whatever you say, Bones.”

 

**_You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream._ **

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
